175g butter, melted
100g icing sugar
100g ground almonds
75g plain flour
5 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh strawberries
Extra chopped strawberries for garnishing
Recipe
Preheat oven to 200°C, grease 10 friand moulds or 10 muffin cups.
Put icing sugar, ground almonds and flour in a mixing bowl. Blend well with a wooden spoon. Add egg whites and vanilla and mix lightly.
Pour in melted butter, gradually holding back any remaining solid. Mix until well-blended.
Stir in strawberries and spoon mixture into prepared moulds up to two-thirds full. Scatter a few more pieces of extra chopped strawberries for decoration.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the top is firm to the touch. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the mould to a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar if desired.
Friands are French almond cakes. If you do not have friand moulds, you can use patty pans, but reduce the baking time to 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a wooden skewer.